The Oswego Health 12u Girls Hockey team recently competed in the 2022 Empire State Winter Games in Lake Placid coming away with a Bronze medal. The weekend began with the team participating in opening ceremonies on Thursday night. Held for the first time outside the girls marched along with athletes from across the Northeast onto Mirror Lake for the ceremonies.
Tournament play began the next day with Oswego facing off against the Saugerties Fillies in Saranac Lake. The Buccaneers jumped out front early in the first period with goals from Clare Furlong, Allison Gurney and Jillian Keegan. Mia Naumann added a second period goal to make the score 4-0. Furlong added her second goal of the game just 36 seconds into the third. Marissa Sharkey and Ava Lasell added goals to close out the scoring in a 7-0 victory. Assists in the game were credited to Kara Hsu, Paiton Colucci, Gabby Martin, Lasell, Sharkey and Gurney. Mackenzie Battelle earned the shutout in net.
Game 2 saw Oswego face off against the Adirondack 46er’s out of Malone, NY. After a scoreless first Adirondack was able to score twice in the second and then three more in the third for a 5-0 victory.
After a quick break, Oswego took the ice against St. Albans in the USA rink at the US Olympic Center. Kelci Astle opened the scoring for Oswego midway through the first period. Marissa Sharkey scored on a breakaway to give the Bucs and 2-0 lead with 6 minutes to go in the second period. Clare Furlong finished the scoring adding a short-handed goal with a minute to go in the game. Mackenzie Battelle earned her second shutout of the tournament in the win.
With the winner advancing to the gold medal game, Oswego took on the number one team in the state the Canton Blades. The early Sunday morning game faced-off in Saranac Lake at 7am. Paiton Colucci stole the puck from a Blade defender two minutes in the game and scored on a breakaway to give Oswego an early 1-0 lead. Canton fought back to tie it midway through the second period. Oswego and Canton traded scoring opportunities the rest of the second and third periods. Canton was able to take the lead and scored on a powerplay with just over two minutes to play in the game. After adding another goal late Oswego fell to the Blades 3-1.
